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Big Teams Get Extra Help in Argentina

Juan Roman Riquelme and his Boca Juniors teammates may be getting help from the Argentine Football Association, say some critics. (Daniel Luna/Associated Press)

This weekend the Argentine apertura or “opening” championship will come down to the wire, with three teams tied on 36 points going into their 19th and final games. And because this is Argentina, and one of the teams involved is Boca Juniors, the big question is, will the fix be in?

Argentine soccer has a long tradition of protecting its major teams. Since 1991, the season has been separated into two championships of 19 games each, the apertura and the clausura (closing), practically guaranteeing that one of the top four – Boca, River Plate, San Lorenzo and Independiente – will win at least one trophy. In fact, those four teams have won 24 of the 34 half-year championships since the system was instituted.

But the biggest protection of all afforded to these clubs is the system of “promedios,” or averages, which determines which teams from the top division are relegated at the end of each season. They aren’t the bottom three, as in most major leagues; they are the teams that averaged the fewest points per game in the past three years. Moreover, only the two worst teams go down directly; the next two have a playoff with teams from the lower divisions to see who takes the spot.

The system will come into play this weekend, as River Plate, the second-biggest team in the country, is assured of a last- or second-to-last-place finish. Its average is far too high, however, to allow it to be relegated – so high, actually, that it could chalk up zero points in the coming clausura and still stay in the top flight.

As if this system of institutionalized protections weren’t enough, rumors have been flying that the Argentine Football Association has been trying to ensure that Boca takes the trophy this season.

The story goes like this: Pedro Pompilio, the president of Boca and second vice president of the AFA, died unexpectedly in October. Julio Grondona, the AFA president who has single-handedly ruled Argentine soccer since 1979, wanted to see Boca win as a tribute to his late friend and colleague. So referees were instructed to give Boca a little help when necessary.

To many fans, that help seemed evident in a match against San Martín de Tucumán on Nov. 23, when referee Carlos Maglio gave a penalty shot to Boca and failed to call a clear penalty committed against San Martín. Boca won, 2-1 away, and Maglio was suspended by the AFA for the next game.

On Nov. 30, it happened again. Referee Pablo Lunati called a phantom penalty for Boca, Racing was denied an obvious spot kick and a key Boca defender, Sebastian Battaglia, was spared a yellow card that would have excluded him from the next match. Boca won, 2-1 at home, and Lunati was pulled from his next fixture.

Then came the wild card, in the inimitable form of Diego Maradona, who, in addition to being an international soccer icon and current coach of the national team, was an emblematic player at Boca Juniors. On Wednesday, Maradona said during a radio interview that Tigre, the smallest of the three teams tied for first place heading into this weekend, deserved to finish ahead of his beloved Boca, San Lorenzo and Lanus, which sits two points behind the leaders.

He pointed out that Tigre beat all three rivals in their only meetings this season. The message was clear: quality, not sentiment, comes first.

You failed to say the obvious that Boca and major teams have 80% of the money Argentina sees in the sport.
You failed to say that acquiring the best players gives the best 4 teams in Argentina the obvious upper hand to win.
Is very different than the NFL, or the NBA with well balance leagues that promote fairness in the trades.
A similar example are Europeans teams in their respective leagues. Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain, Milan and Roma in Italy, Bayern Munich in Germany, Benfica in Portugal, Liverpool and Manchester United in England.
So, big deal your note failed to say all this.

Pietro, I think that’s because most people who bother to click on a story about Argentine football are aware of this. The teams you mentioned in your comment aren’t even the biggest powerhouses in their respective leagues. Liverpool haven’t won the league since 1990, you didn’t mention Inter and Porto have won the last several championships in Portugal, not Benfica. So before you start criticizing the author, make sure you know what you’re talking about.

Of course nobody mentions when the refs are against Boca? When they were 11 points out nobody talked about the atrocious calls made against them when they lost 4-2 to Tigre. The refs make calls in favor and calls against and at the end it all comes out pretty much even throughout the season (San Lorenzo beat River on an offside goal and River had an onside goal disallowed)

As for the game, Battaglia should have been yellowed carded (meaning he would have missed the next game), but that ‘penalty’ that you say was clear in Racing’s favor was anything but. And the ‘dive’ by Figueroa had everybody shouting penalty kick until they saw the replay 500 times. And even after that, the goalkeeper does not go for the ball at all and the only reason Figueroa is not touched is because he jumped three feet in the air to avoid it. It was a clear pk, just because Figueroa jumped and avoided the contact does not make it so.

I do agree about the promedios, it’s a joke.

As for the shorter tournaments, it actually makes it easier for smaller teams to win it. For 1) it is impossible for a team to compete in the Libertadores and the Clausura successfully meaning that usually there is one less big team in the race (lately Boca). 2) A 19 game season makes it MUCH easier for smaller teams to win the league title. In a 38 game season they would fail to keep their top players and to keep up with the depth of the smaller teams. In fact, from top to bottom Argentina is the most competitive league in terms of teams capable of winning it. In the top European years there are prob 3 maybe 4 a league. In Argentina there’s already three and Lanus makes four. River won it last year though they are last place this year. Newell’s, Gimasia (LP), Estudiantes (LP) have all made strides and have competing (two of those won) titles.

In last 34, the top five teams (boca, racing, river, san lorenzo, independiente) have won 25. From 1930-65 and then 1985/86 to 90/91 only three times a team outside those 5 won the league. In fact, only until they did the split titles in 1966, that a team outside those 5 finally won (Estudiantes).

Yes, Pietro, having a concentration of money among a few top teams is hardly unique to Argentina, as Josh said.

Daniel, the apertura-clausura system does allow a smaller team to win now and again, but it actually raises the number of trophies going to the big teams each year. Instead of one per year, it has been an average of 1.4 per year. To my eyes, this helps the big teams to maintain their front-runner status.

And can you really consider Racing as part of a big five in Argentina these days? That’s like saying Newcastle is part of a big five in the United Kingdom – a big club that doesn’t win trophies (much as it hurts me to say so, as a Toon fan). If Racing is up there, maybe Huracan should be as well, since it’s San Lorenzo’s chief rival. Or Velez, or Estudiantes, which have both won more trophies than Racing in recent years….

Mr. Daniel Altman,
I agree with you 100 % in your last post.
Argentina has a great pool of players that deserves a fair league that spreads these players evenly among all the teams. Also they have the worst referees in the world.
So many wrong calls, and letting fouls go unpunished.
But Boca is not to be at fault for a bad league and bad referees. They have the best players, and the most money.
Grondona and his pals should be change, and referees should take classes from Europeans counterparts.

Pietro: Argentina has a great pool of players that deserves a fair league that spreads these players evenly among all the teams. Also they have the worst referees in the world.

Grondona and his pals should be change, and referees should take classes from Europeans counterparts.

First off, I think that there is no way that you cane say that Argentina’s league should follow European’s style. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Racing is the 5th biggest team, whether they are going through a dry spell or not. And if you take them away, then it’s one more title won by somebody outside the ‘top 4′.

In England, there have been only 4 teams that have lifted the title in the past 16 years, and only 3/4 teams go into the season with a realistic shot of winning the league title. Meanwhile, in this past Apertura, there were 4 teams with a chance going into the final week.

In the last 24 years, only 5 different teams have won it, and lately it has only been between Real Madrid and Barcelona with an occasional Valencia. Italy its always Inter, Juve, Milan except for an occasional year in which Roma competes, and mainly because of the match fixing scandal

Lyon has won the title 7 years in a row in France, in portugal the Big three have won 71 out of 73 titles in the league’s history. The smaller leagues are usually dominated by 2/3 teams: Greece (Olympiakos, sometimes Pana, AEK), Romania (three teams from the capital and a fluke win by Cluj), Scotland (Celtic. Rangers) etc. So there goes your spreading the wealth like in Europe theory.

Dan, the number of trophies won by the Big 4 has been raised, but you fail to mention that so has the number of trophies by the smaller teams. All the major clubs in Europe have 3/4 contenders max going into a season. In Argentina as of late, you have Boca, River, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes (LP), Newell’s, Lanus, Tigre etc. That right there are 8 teams that are competing

Say what you want, but that IMO seems like a much more fascinating and passionate league then one in which the winner is basically which ever of the 2/3 big teams gets knocked out of the Champions League first

River is the biggest team in Argentina? Please, don’t make laugh, really…
I guess it’s true, after all you’re one of the best teams in the world, one the most popular, one of the most famous, the one who won 18 international tourments, the one that has so many Libertadores Cups…the one that just won the Apertura…No, I was confused… Boca won all that…and what happened to you? You ended last…but take it easy, maybe next year…

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